The subject matter herein relates generally to connector assemblies, and more particularly, to shielded connector assemblies.
Some electrical systems utilize electrical connectors to interconnect two circuit boards, such as a motherboard and daughtercard. The electrical connectors typically include a plurality of signal contacts and a plurality of ground contacts that are held within a common housing of the corresponding electrical connector. The signal and ground contacts have contact tails that extend from the housing and are mounted to the corresponding circuit board, such as by loading the contact tails into plated vias of the circuit board. In typical high speed connectors, the signal contacts are arranged in differential pairs, with ground contacts on one or both sides of the signal contacts of the differential pairs, such as in a ground-signal-signal-ground pattern.
Known electrical systems are not without disadvantages. For instance, the positions of the ground contacts within the electrical connectors and the footprint of ground vias within the circuit board are typically controlled by the manufacturability of the electrical connector. The positions of such ground contacts and ground vias may not be positioned in the most desirable location from an electrical performance standpoint, due to manufacturability. For example, the ground and signal contacts are typically arranged in rows and columns, and therefore, the ground vias and signal vias are also arranged in rows and columns. However, a different footprint of ground vias with respect to the signal vias may be more desirable. For example, having additional ground vias surrounding the signal vias may be more desirable. Furthermore, the diameters of the ground vias are controlled by manufacturability constraints. For example, the size of the contact tails may dictate the size of the ground vias. However, a larger or smaller diameter ground via may be more desirable to control the electrical characteristics of the circuit board. For example, changing the diameter size may affect impedance, cross-talk, or overall footprint layout.
A need remains for an electrical system that provides an efficient ground interface between electrical connectors and circuit boards.